My Porcelain Heart
by ADashOfInsanity
Summary: Alfred finds a beautiful porcelain doll in his cupboard that certainly doesn't belong there. Will Arthur be able to shed any light on this mysterious beauty? Or has it been too long? The man of the doll may be long gone... AmericaxJapan AlfredxKiku DISCONTINUED
1. Tissue Wrapped Secrets

**AN: Hi! ADashOfInsanity here, with my first attempt at Hetalia Axis Powers fan fiction. I usually write for the Super Smash Brothers and Death Note catergories so here's something completely new to me!**

**I'm pretty sure you're not interested in me though, here's the first chapter of "My Porcelain Heart", which is AmericaxJapan / AlfredxKiku, along with hints of FrancexUK, or FrancisxArthur.**

**So please enjoy, and please leave me a review to tell me what you think!**

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Chapter One: Tissue-Wrapped Secrets

"Ah, where is it!" Boxes were being thrown haphazardly into a heap at his feet as he searched through the wardrobe, all he wanted was one video game, the one video game that he promised to give back to Matthew and never got round to finding. It was very exciting game consisting of a lone hero fighting off a vicious alien invasion. It was just Alfred's thing, however the game did not belong to him, it belonged to Canada. He had spent four whole days playing it obsessively, but still he hadn't finished it, it was such a good game! However Canada was now waiting at his door, waiting for him to answer and Alfred to give him back his game, but Alfred couldn't find it. The doorbell went off again and he leant right into his cupboard, trying to reach whatever was right at the back of the dark gloomy space. He should really fit a light in here… The doorbell went off again, Canada was still on the doorstep. Should he just tell his brother that he'd lost it? No, that meant he'd have to pay for another one! He should just keep searching… Maybe his lack of response would make Canada think he wasn't at home and he would leave? Then he would get the game for longer! It was unlikely though, it was Matthew's favourite game, he had been loath to lend it to him, and now Alfred could see why. It was if Matthew was expecting him to loose it… He knew him too well.

"Ah ha!" He'd found it! He looked at the cover, this was it! He hurried, covered in dust and spiders, towards the front door. He wrenched it open and stood proudly in the doorway.

"Hello Matty!"

"Hello Alfred," said Canada in his usual quiet tone, "Do you have my game?" He was looking at Alfred's dusty attire and cob-web filled hair. He raised an eyebrow, as if guessing what Alfred had just been doing.

"You didn't loose it did you?" he asked with a small smile.

"Of course not!" laughed Alfred, "Would you like to come in for coffee?"

"No thanks," said Matthew, "I have to go…meet someone…" He turned and walked back to a small shiny black car, got in and it drove off. Alfred sighed, it would have been fun to have a catch up! Perhaps have a hamburger together…He hadn't seen a lot of Matthew lately, he was starting to get slightly worried. Did Canada not think he was a hero anymore?

He turned and closed the door behind him, he now had to clean up that stack of games up… He groaned as he saw the mountain of boxes, there were more in the cupboard than out of it! He looked at the dark cupboard and then at the stack… he'd leave it for another day… There was always tomorrow. It was easier to find the games now, he knew exactly where they were now, on the floor. However as he turned to leave he saw something out of the corner of his eye. There was another box in the cupboard that was the wrong shape for a video game. He leant into the gloom and took it out. It was a thin rectangular box, grey in colour. It was completely plain, no label or sticker anywhere. It couldn't be a shoe box, it was way too narrow, Alfred couldn't possibly think of what could be in there. He sat on a nearby chair, he had no idea what was in there… He decided to open it.

"Tissue paper?" It was a box full of tissue paper. What a let down… Then it occurred to him that things were often wrapped in tissue paper, tissue paper stopped precious things breaking! He pulled the paper from the box and soon round a cylinder of compacted paper, secured with tape, there was something in here. Alfred felt like a child at Christmas, unwrapping his presents, to think about it, that's how he still felt at Christmas! He carefully took off the tape and unwrapped the paper. He bet it was really really valuable!

Alfred stared at the item in curiosity and surprise. It was a doll, a porcelain doll. What was a porcelain doll doing in his games cupboard? It was a very beautiful little thing and painted with amazing detail. The doll was a little girl with short black hair which seemed to made from real hair. She had dark chestnut eyes that stared at Alfred, an expression of serenity and calmness on her painted face. She was very pretty. She seemed to be wearing some sort of blue robe-thing, she looked foreign, she certainly wasn't American, or English, or French. She didn't look European at all, perhaps she was Chinese? Alfred shook his head, 'she' wasn't a real person, of course the doll wouldn't have a nationality, it was a toy, an object! But he was still curious as to what such a beautiful and fragile object was doing in his house of all places! Perhaps England would know, this house was built by him for Alfred. He placed the doll back in its wrappings and placed it in its grey box. He took the box with him as he went to change out of his pyjamas, despite it being noon, and then he set off to Arthur's house.

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It hardly surprised him when he saw another car outside Arthur's grand mansion of a house. It was large and were rose petals on the seats of the car so he knew immediately who was round. As he rung the bell there was the sound of fighting in the hallway.

"No really! I'll get it!" The door opened,

"Oh good day Alfred,"

"Alfred!" Arthur was barged out the way into the door frame as Francis embraced the American, kissing him on the cheek and looking delighted.

"Francis!" exclaimed Arthur, pulling France off him.

"Alfred, this is a surprise…come in, come in!" It was then Alfred noticed that both men were only half-dressed. Both were dressed in shirts and boxers,

"Where are your pants?" he asked. They glanced at each other.

"On the bedroom floor!"

"No they're not!" Arthur shoved Francis into the wall.

"Please just come in before this imbecile drives me insane. Our trousers are none of your business, just come in…" England and France continued to bicker all the way into the living room leaving Alfred laughing at his father-figures as he sat down without invitation.

"Get off my lap!"

"Don't hit me so ha…"

Arthur put the book down and looked at Alfred.

"What seems to be the problem?" Alfred opened the box, ignoring the unconscious Francis on the floor.

"I found this in one of my cupboards, I don't think its mine and I have no idea who it belongs to."

"So you're assuming its mine?" asked Arthur standing up and leaning over Alfred to get a better look. Alfred picked up the porcelain girl and showed it to the older nation. Arthur gasped.

"I haven't seen this in centuries…"

"What is it?" asked Alfred, confused. Arthur sat on the sofa next to Alfred, knowing he would demand a proper explanation.

"A long time ago I went on a voyage, I can't remember where to, it was such a long time ago and was kind of pointless. We didn't achieve anything. But, on this voyage, we saw another boat, a very small one, ahead of us, we followed it to a small bay and there, to greet it, was this man, a man in a robe, just like this one." He pointed at the doll.

"We didn't know who he was, or where we were, but one of the sailors saw how beautiful he was and when we got back, he had this doll made. This doll is that man, the man greeting the ship. He was very beautiful so this was made so that beauty would be remembered forever,"

"I thought it was a girl," said Alfred honestly. Arthur took the doll from him and held it to eye level to get a better look.

"He was quite effeminate," said Arthur, "I was given the doll when the sailor died, I don't remember giving it to you, but it must have ended up in your house some how."

"So this is a real person?" asked Alfred, looking at the pretty doll.

"Is, or was, they're probably dead by now, it was very long ago."

"But what if he was a nation? Welcoming his sailors home?"

"We were pretty sure it was just a fishing boat," said Arthur, "I think he was just a brother or someone welcoming his family home. He was very richly dr…" Francis had stirred on the floor but Arthur just returned his attention to Alfred.

"There's no way of knowing," he said with a shrug, "We had no idea what that shore was, and the young man is no doubt dead by now." But the spark of adventure was in Alfred's eyes. He was holding the doll and looking at it in a new light.

"Let's find out who he was!" he said excitedly, "We could go to his country and find out!" Arthur sighed,

"This isn't the time for more crazy adventures or…" But Alfred was already planning how he was going to get there, and how much the boat would cost, and whether he could take the doll with him.

"Could you tell me the route you took?" Arthur sighed again.

"Fine, just don't die…oh and take him with you…" He kicked the woozy Frenchman on the floor.

**Please review**


	2. Alfred's New Friend

**AN: Thank you to ****SanguisRubeus, GoddessSumizofVenus, Stitch-patch and Red Roses2 for reviewing!**

**This is a very quick update for me, I have to say that the rest may not be as quick, I've got exams at the moment but it does help this is my only Hetalia fan fiction compared to my eight or nine Brawl ones, so the updates will be more frequent in comparison.**

**So Alfred found a doll and now they're going on an adventure! At the moment the plan is just Alfred and Francis, on a boat together, alone, poor Alfred… Luckily Arthur's there to help him along with someone who'd really rather not be there.**

**So enjoy and please review!**

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Chapter Two: Alfred's New Friend

Alfred had gained a new friend, he didn't talk much, but he was such a great listener. Alfred liked that in a friend, it meant he could talk for hours on end with no interruptions, usually people didn't have the patience for that. His new friend was very patient, and Alfred admired that quality in him. He was always good to talk to and was always interested in what he had to say, more so that the stuck-up Englishman behind him.

"Francis, he's talking to the doll again!"

"I talk to dolls all the time!" Alfred heard Arthur give a sigh.

"His sort of doll is a bit different to yours, besides, I thought you threw that away?"

"No, I gave it to Canada…" Alfred ignored them and went back to his friend that didn't argue. However he heard spluttering behind him.

"You gave that to _Canada…"_

"In a box with a ribbon," Alfred knew the bickering nations were right outside the door, they weren't exactly being subtle.

"God, no wonder he stutters and whispers all the time, you've scarred him for life!"

"You didn't do a much better job on Alfie over there!" Suddenly a loud argument over who was the best parental figure erupted in the corridor.

"Sorry about this," Alfred said to the doll, who just stared at him with those calm chestnut eyes. Alfred was packing for their voyage to find the man Arthur had described. His suitcase was already too full, despite assurances that there would probably be plenty of food where they were going, Alfred wasn't taking any chances. Packets and bags were stuffed inside his small suitcase, all his favourite foods were wrapped up and crammed in there, he couldn't go a day without his precious junk food! With all that food he had very little room for his actual luggage, where was he going to put his clothes?

"Don't look at me like that!" he said to the doll, who seemed to think he was being ridiculous. He scowled at the doll who just looked innocently back at him.

"Ah, I can't stay angry at you, you're just too cute," He smiled and then decided to take the doll's advice and empty some of the food out of his suitcase to fit his clothes and sanitary stuff in.

"Why don't we just ask him!"

"Yeah, why not!" There was a two-man stampede into Alfred's room.

"Alfred!" said Arthur, with what he seemed to think was a friendly charming smile, it looked more like a grimace as Francis trod on his foot.

"Alfred!" exclaimed Francis, but then got knocked into the doorway.

"Who do you regard as a better friend?" asked Alfred, "Me or him?" Alfred looked at them both, each were trying to give him winning smiles.

"Well you both bicker like hell, and you're both incredibly immature…" Alfred watched their egos deflate before his eyes.

"So I'd say the better friend…" He turned away from them.

"Is Doll there,"

"WHAT?" Francis and Arthur stared at the porcelain doll who just continued to smile at them sweetly. Arthur was the first to recover, he shook his head.

"He's finally lost it…"

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Arthur, it seemed, was coming on their voyage as well. His excuse was that he didn't trust Alfred not to drown himself and even if he didn't drown himself he would be scarred for life by Francis, and would need someone sensible to save him anywhere. So it turned out to be a 'family' trip. This meant another unfortunate soul got dragged along as well.

"Francis, I wanted to return the gift you sent to the wrong address, I'm sure it wasn't meant for me, so here it is," Canada handed the box with a ribbon on back to France, who looked faintly disappointed.

"Merci Matty…" Canada looked round at the suitcases.

"Where is everyone going?" he asked, eye widening, they were abandoning him!

"We're going to find a mysterious man on a foreign shore," said Arthur, "Want to come?"

"I don't know…" said Canada shyly, "I did sort of promise…that I'd…"

"Good!" said Francis, "Pack your case and meet us this afternoon!" He steered Canada off, leaving Arthur to look for Alfred.

"I don't know, red or blue?" Alfred looked at the doll, who was as clueless as he was.

"Blue I think," he said, he packed the blue pair.

"I don't need anything for you right?" he asked the doll, "Can I change your clothes or do I just keep you in the box?" The doll seemed to be happy with just the box, he wasn't at all demanding, Alfred liked that.

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England, France, America and Canada all headed towards their awaiting boat. The two older nations were holding the suitcases whereas Canada, who had been dragged into this, was just holding his bear and America was holding his doll. As they walked America spotted a familiar black-haired person receiving a package from a sailor.

"China!" he called. Yao turned and inwardly groaned. Here came the idiots again…

"Good morning!" he said brightly, "What brings you here? I've just arrived for that visit we organised."

"We're going on an adventure!" said Alfred, "We going to find someone from Arthur's dark mysterious past!"

"My past is neither dark nor mysterious," said Arthur frustratedly, "We're trying to find some man who I saw years ago which one of my sailors made a doll of. Alfred, just show him and we can go." Alfred stepped forward and showed Yao the doll.

"What…" Yao's jaw had dropped. He took the doll from Alfred and looked at it closely.

"It's…it's…"

"Do you know who it is?" asked Alfred eagerly. Yao shook his head quickly.

"No, no I don't, it's just…very pretty," He gave the doll back but now he looked nervous and anxious. However, the four blond men didn't seem to notice.

"Well, have fun on your visit!" said Alfred, "Bye!"

"Good bye," said Yao. They walked off and China looked round. He had to get back and tell Kiku that these morons were going to land right on his doorstep, with a doll of him no less! He shook his head with a sigh, he knew this day would come, Japan could not hide himself from them for long. But at least he should get some warning before the idiots descended.

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Please review!


	3. A Living Doll

**AN: Thank you to ****Onlytomriddle, Ammy14k, Stitch-patch, and SanguisRubeus for reviewing!**

**Chapter Three and finally Kiku enters the story, how is he going to react when the four nations land on his soil? So will Yao get to him in time? (On a completely unrelated side note, my computer kept changing Yao to Yaoi, which I found funny…but oh well.) **

**Just a note that this story is not historically accurate ****at all.**** Also, Yao and Kiku talk to each other in **_**italics**_** this is because they're speaking Japanese. I didn't think it was convenient to translate that entire section and then have to write out all the English later. Also, my Japanese is terrible.**

**So please enjoy, and review!**

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Chapter Three: A Living Doll

"Has anyone seen Canada?" asked Francis.

"Who?"

"Canada!" said France, "Where did he go?" Alfred went back to staring out at the ocean. It was a perfect day, the sun overhead burned brightly, light reflecting off the waves caused them to glitter slightly, it was truly a magical sight. Not a cloud in the sky to bother them, apart from the sound of Arthur being sea sick, everything was ideal…

"You've been on enough boats, you think you might have got used to them by now," Francis was holding back stray strands of hair so he didn't get them dirty as he threw up overboard.

"Shut…up…"

"Such an eloquent reply," said Francis. Canada appeared on deck with Kumajiro clamped tightly in his arms, he looked around and then shook his head. Arthur was being sick, Francis was actually helping him for once, but still laughing at him, Alfred was standing on the opposite side of the deck with his doll in one hand, shielding his eyes with the other.

"It's really nice out there isn't it?" said Alfred.

"Yes it is," said Matthew. Alfred turned to stare at him, Matthew instantly felt embarrassed.

"Who else were you talking to?" he asked, he was sure the statement had been directed towards him. Alfred just held up the doll for Matthew to see and Matthew looked at it.

"You know, people are going to think you're crazy if you keep talking to that doll," he said in his usual quiet voice. Alfred stared at him for a moment, seemingly trying to think of a good retort.

"Well you talk to that bear! Doesn't that make you crazy?"

"Kumajiro talks back, and he can move," said Canada earnestly, "But your doll can't reply, or move! You look a lot more insane than I do."

"Heroes can't be insane!" said Alfred, "Isn't that right Doll!" Matthew shook his head, he had gone mad. He looked over to see his 'father' figures having an heated argument over dress sense, involving Francis doing some sort of cat walk across the deck of the ship, the returned to tell Arthur he needed to do something about his eyebrows. Arthur then bonked him on the head… Matthew turned away. He knew where Alfred had got his crazy from, did that mean… He looked at his 'family', was he the only sane one left? He didn't want to go the same way as them, what if it was hereditary? He was worried, very worried.

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Another worried man was tearing down the path to his brother's house. Yao ran up to the front of the house, slipped his shoes off, and hurried into his brother's house.

"_Kiku-kun! Kiku-kun…where are you?"_ There was the sound of someone humming to themselves and Yao followed the noise until he arrived in the kitchen to find Kiku making his dinner. He had tied a cloth over his hair so not to get it dirty and he had swept back his long sleeves so not to trail them in the food. He looked up when Yao entered.

"_Yao-san! What are you doing here? I shall make more…"_ but Yao interrupted him.

"_No time, we need to get out of here, now." _Kiku frowned, confused at why his elder brother was so panicked.

"_May I ask why?_" Yao looked around, as if the four blond men would burst through the walls at the moment.

"_You know I made an agreement with those idiots?"_ Kiku nodded calmly.

"_The blond ones I told you about. Well they're coming."_

"_Coming?"_

"_Coming here!"_ said Yao, _"Somehow England knows where you are and now they're hunting for you. You won't be able to hide yourself anymore."_ Now Kiku looked concerned.

"_Why are they coming here?"_ he asked, sounding worried.

"_I don't know!"_ said Yao, _"Something about a doll, but you have to get out of here! Kiku-kun, your islands are peaceful and beautiful, they'll destroy that! Listen little brother, you have to hide at my house for a while, until they leave."_

"_Surely you are over-reacting_?" said Kiku, "_What if they are arriving here to talk and make tra…"_

"_They're wealthy enough, they don't need it. I trade with them, I know. You don't know what they're like. England, France and America are all idiots, there's this little blond boy that looks like America, I don't know who he is, but if he's like_ _America he's also an idiot! You have to move!"_ Kiku seemed to think he was over-reacting, he was staring at China in slight alarm, but not for the fact the blonds were coming, but the fact China was so panicked.

"_If you come, we'll have a reunion, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea…they can all come too," _Kiku seemed to consider it.

"_Fine, I will hide if you insist, but please protect me from Korea and his…_" Yao gave an embarrassed laugh.

"_Let's get going, pack and we can take my boat."_ Kiku nodded and packed the food he had already made and gave it to China saying that he would not waste it. He went to pack his things into a small bag. There was a lot of his clothes still in Yao's house because he'd left in a hurry last time he went. Korea was out to get him. He didn't need to pack a lot.

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"We're here!" exclaimed Arthur, standing up and staring at the harbour.

"It hasn't changed much since I last came here…" What seemed to be a fishing boat was tied up at the harbour, and Arthur knew it was the same sort he'd seen all that time ago. Their boat moored up at the harbour.

"So Alfred," Arthur turned to the younger nation, "How do you suppose to find your doll man?"

"Look!" It was Canada who had shouted, everyone rushed to his side. Alfred stared in the direction Matthew was pointing.

"It's him…" There he was. Alfred looked at the doll, so the robe-things were a different shade of blue, but it was definitely him. He polished his glasses to get a better look. He was transfixed by this stranger, he knew how the sailor must have felt…this man…this man… He seemed to be waiting for someone, unaware of the large foreign boat that had just arrived. He was carrying a brown bag, it looked like he was going somewhere…. But that didn't matter. Alfred couldn't help but say it aloud.

"Cute…" He had soft almost feminine features which were framed by glossy black hair. His large chestnut eyes were even more gentle and beautiful in real life. He was small in Alfred's eyes, he looked quite short from here… That didn't matter because suddenly Alfred knew one thing. He didn't want the doll, he wanted the real thing… he wanted that man for his own.

"Alfred, what are you doing? asked Arthur, as Alfred hurried down the gangplank.

"I'm going to get him!" said Alfred cheerfully.

"Get him?" said Arthur, but Francis had followed Alfred down the gangplank.

"You may need my help!" Arthur and Matthew could only watch as Alfred approached the small black haired man, who looked scared but bowed politely and then started to talk. Arthur couldn't hear what he was saying but judging by the looks on Alfred and Francis's faces, they had no idea what he was saying. He was probably talking in a language they didn't know. However, as England and Canada watched. Alfred seemed to have an idea.

"Come back with us and we'll teach you English!" They could definitely hear him. The black haired man however was now looking at them in confusion, he had no idea what they were saying either. Unfortunately, he was outnumbered.

"Alright, let's take him back to the ship!" said Alfred, before the poor black haired man could even react, he was picked up, flung over the American's shoulder and carried away. He was fighting furiously and Arthur heard long strings of undecipherable words coming from him, obviously cries in his own language. However the most common words were 'Onii-san' and 'Tasukete'.

"TASUKETE!" The poor man shouted as he was hauled onto the ship. Alfred let him go and he made a dash for freedom but Alfred caught him by the back of his robe-thing and hauled him backwards. Francis had found some rope and tied the poor thing up, and Canada, who had decided to help, found a strip of cloth to use a gag.

"What do you think you're doing?" stormed Arthur, "You can't just kidnap him like that!"

"Heroes don't kidnap!" said Alfred, picking up his prize, who looked absolutely terrified, but stayed silent, seeming ashamed of all his screaming because now he had gone slightly pink.

"Then what do you call this?" demanded Arthur, Alfred had already gestured for the Captain of the ship to set sail so they could go back again.

"I'll tell you later," He strode off with his prisoner and Arthur shook his head.

"Does anyone else think this is wrong?" Canada looked ashamed of himself and France started whistling.

"What are you whistling for?" demanded Arthur angrily.

"Well it's kind of obvious, I know everything about l'armour!"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Well…I think your petit Alfie has a crush!" Arthur wanted a drink, a strong drink, now. Why did he let Alfred get here? As the ship left the harbour they heard someone shouting, in English.

"GIVE BACK MY BROTHER!" They turned, but they couldn't see who it was, they were waving like mad. Francis merely gave them an airy wave back and soon the ship was out to sea.


	4. Prisoner

**AN: Thank you to ****Kurai ren, Otaku no baka, GoddessSumizofVenus, Stitch-patch, Ammy14k, SanguisRubeus, TheFlyingPotato64, and Ninja-freak13! Wow, that's a lot of reviews for one chapter! (for this story anyway)**

**This chapter we get to see how Kiku is coping on a ship full of strangers he neither knows or can understand due to the language barrier! I should probably put a Disclaimer**

**So Hetalia doesn't belong to me, though its fairly obvious. Oh and non-historically accurate story! Please don't criticise it for not being accurate, it isn't supposed to be!**

**So please enjoy and please review!**

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Chapter Four:

**Prisoner**

Kiku didn't fully understand what was going on. He knew he had been kidnapped, but he didn't know why. He knew he was a ship, sailing across the ocean, but he didn't know where he was going, or who this ship belonged to. He knew he was a captive, a prisoner, but he didn't know what they wanted him for! It was all too foreign, too strange, too much at once… He couldn't let them know he was scared. A samurai showed no weakness! But he couldn't stop himself trembling… he was terrified! One minute he'd been waiting for China, the next those two men approached him. He'd saw them and instantly remembered Yao's warning about blond men coming to his shore, and these men had yellow hair, so they were blond. However, he didn't know whether they were the men Yao had warned him of, there were only two of them and apparently the ones who wished him ill were a group of four. Also it was incredibly impolite to just walk away from a person without a greeting them or acknowledging them at all. Then he discovered they didn't even speak the same language! He'd tried Chinese as well but they didn't speak that either, in the end they babbled something in a language he didn't understand and then the larger one of the two grabbed him. Kiku was ashamed of his screaming for help, though what else should he have done? He couldn't remain calm and demure whilst those strangers were taking him! If only he'd brought his katana… How could he have been such a fool and left it at home? Kiku knew he was an idiot… However he had bigger problems than the location of his katana right now. He had to work out his situation and then calmly find a way out of it.

But soon he thought there were too many unknowns for him to ever be calm about this. He knew who had kidnapped him, they were the men Yao had mentioned, America, France and England, and there was a fourth blond person, but Yao did not know who he was. There was always someone watching him, one of them was always standing guard but Kiku didn't know the identities of each man. The one that came the most often was the largest blond man, who talked very loudly and kept trying to feed him some foul smelling food, Kiku refused to eat it. Perhaps if he went on a hunger strike, they'd let him go? Then there was the blond man with the large eyebrows, who scowled a lot and always spoke angrily, even though Kiku didn't know what he was saying. He didn't come very often. There a smaller man, who looked very much like the first man, but Kiku could tell them apart because this man didn't force him to eat anything and he carried a white animal around with him that looked a little bit like Yao's pandas. It also spoke to him, but Kiku could not understand what he was saying either. Then there was the man with the longest hair, he spoke a completely different language to the other three. He also tried to give food to Kiku, and his food looked a lot better than the larger man's food, but Kiku did not take it. He would not accept the charity of the enemy, he would go on this hunger strike of his until they let him go and took him home. The longer haired man sat and stared at him for long periods of time and then used to examine his clothing and prod him. Kiku did not like it one bit, but he stayed silent and shook slightly, hoping that the man would go away. Unfortunately the most common visitors were the obnoxiously loud larger man and the longer haired man who prodded him. He felt very vulnerable when so many people were staring at him and it only made him more scared.

Why did they take him? He didn't even know who they were, he had never met them before! He had got the idea it was the larger one's idea because he was the most frequent visitor and he was the one who tried to the hardest to make sure he ate something. At least Kiku had secured one small victory over his captors, he would not eat. Hopefully Yao would find him before he starved to death though, he didn't fancy dying. As Kiku sat, he heard someone shouting, it sounded like the angry eyebrow one.

"Moron!" The larger blond man came running into the small room Kiku was in, that must be the man's name! At last he had discovered something about his captors. So they were America, England, France, and Moron must be the man Yao did not know. Moron was currently watching him, he had a bag in one hand, a colourful one and Kiku knew it could only contain more food. Moron took off his gag and Kiku decided to try and speak to him now he knew his name.

"Mo-ro-n," he said, it sounded foreign on his tongue so he tried again.

"Mo-ron," The man stared at him for a moment, obviously the fact Kiku had said his name had gained his attention.

"Mo-ron," said Kiku again. It seemed these people did not use a honorific with their names, so maybe he should not address Moron with one. Moron just stared at him and then sighed. He turned and ran out the room leaving a very confused Kiku in his wake. What had he done? Well at least he wasn't wearing that horrible gag anymore, at least Moron hadn't put it back on before he ran off…

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Arthur was sitting on deck staring out at the sea as Alfred came thundering towards him like an angry bull.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Thanks to you my little doll is calling me a moron!" exclaimed Alfred angrily, Canada and France looked round and Arthur just rolled his eyes.

"We told you, if you keep thinking your porcelain toy is a real person then…" but Alfred interrupted him.

"I didn't mean the porcelain one, I meant the real one! He's learnt his first word of English and he learnt it from YOU!" Arthur started to laugh when he realised what Alfred was going on about. Alfred's captive must have heard him shouting and had picked up the word and decided to say it, unintentionally calling Alfred a moron.

"He must be picking things up better than we ever imagined," said Arthur casually, "He's already got the main concept of your personality summed up in one word." Alfred glared at him.

"Heroes are not morons and I don't think he needs to learn the English language from you!"

"I am England!" said Arthur, "Of course he should learn to language from me! What's he going to speak? French?"

"Oui!" said Francis, excitedly, "I'll go and teach him,"

"No," said Alfred and Arthur at the same time. Who knew what words the prisoner would know how to say if they left him in Francis's hands.

As the three men bickered Canada decided to slip away, there was no point in him being here, he was being ignored as usual. He wandered away, below deck, he might as well go and see the captive himself. As he neared the room where they kept the 'real doll' as Alfred liked to call him, he heard singing. It was soft and slightly shaky but Matthew could help but think it was very beautiful. He couldn't make out any of the words and stopped trying to when he realised they were in the captive's language. He peeked at the raven haired captive who had leant his head back against the wooden wall. His eyes were closed but he was crying and the soft tune was escaping his lips. Matthew found himself gripping Kumajiro so tightly the bear gave him a disgruntled look and slipped from his grasp and left him. However Matthew was watching the captive, who looked so utterly lonely and home sick that Matthew couldn't help but feel sorry for him. America was being incredibly cruel, taking him like this, couldn't he have just seen him once and have made do with the porcelain doll? The man was very thin, Matthew knew he was refusing to eat, and to be honest if it was England who was cooking, so would Matthew, but he knew both Alfred and Francis were trying to get him to eat, and their food wasn't bad. It didn't make sense… unless he was starving himself… Canada gasped, he wanted to get away so badly he thought starving himself to death was the best option? No! This man was obviously a nation, how else would he have lived all this time? They could not be the cause of the death of a nation! They had to take him home! They had to help him! Look at him, alone, trembling, crying…so far from home, probably confused at being on a foreign ship, they didn't even speak the same language! He had full reason to be terrified! Canada turned round, he had to talk to the others, make them see sense. They had to listen to him…ah he'd hit a problem…no one ever listened to Canada… His spirits dropped, he should probably go and fine Kumajiro… However he could not get the poor man's singing out of his head, a song from his own country, a song only he could understand now he was completely alone. Canada shivered, he didn't like this, not one bit.

* * *

Kiku felt weak, he didn't know how long his hunger strike, or the voyage, had lasted but he knew it was finally affecting him. He was weak, a position he should never have been in. But he had no choice, he wanted to go home. He accepted water, he drank the water they gave him because he knew his body would just stop working without it. He sat, bound and gagged once more, leaning against the wall. He could no longer differentiate day from night, or when the boat was on calm waves, or violent ones. He had lost any notion of time… he couldn't move, not only because he was bound, but he was just too tired…too tired to even sing anymore.,, Where was Yao? He didn't really care who rescued him anymore, it could even be Korea who did it and he would be subjected to being constantly groped on the way home. Yes, even Korea could rescue him, he was getting that desperate. Moron and his friends still came to watch him, staring at him, poking at him, trying to force him to eat something, but all Kiku really wanted was to go home. It really wasn't too much to ask…

"Good morning," Someone had spoken… Kiku didn't have the energy to even look up. He didn't even understand what they were saying so there was no point. He tried to move, but ended up falling on his side.

"What's…" There was the sound of footsteps, Kiku had his eyes closed, safe in the warm blackness which was creeping in on him. It didn't even occur to him when he felt the last string slip, that he'd fallen unconscious.


	5. Something Edible

**AN: Thanks to ****GoddessSumizofVenus, Stitch-patch, Ammy14k, TheFlyingPotato64, SanguisRubeus, Nivell, Ninja-freak13 and Kurai ren for reviewing!**

**So Kiku starved himself into a state of unconsciousness is he going to be alright? Just a note from me: Kiku will be referred to, by Alfred, as 'Doll' until he knows Kiku's name, and Kiku will call Alfred 'Moron' until he knows wiser. Just so nobody gets confused!**

**So, lets find out how Kiku is doing, also Yao is on the move back again! Can he get to Kiku before he gets worse? Oh and Chun the panda is with him, I looked at Chinese names and found Chun meant spring, so that's what I named the panda. Also the website told me Kiku is a girl's name! But anyway…**

**Enjoy and please review!**

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Chapter Five: Something Edible.

Yao's ship had arrived in the harbour and said man disembarked and looked around for any trace of the ship hired by the four blond idiots, the ship that had taken Kiku. He ran round the harbour, looking quite mad, but finally, he saw it! The ship with the painted picture of a mermaid on the side, it was the ship England had hired for their 'adventure' to Japan. Yao hurried towards it, feet pounding against the ground, Kiku was on that ship! He skidded to a halt when he saw a man dressed in a Captain's uniform stepped onto the ship, he was counting money from a bag.

"Damn it, the idiots paid me short and then just skipped off…bloody cheap-skates.." Yao stared at him…skipped off? They'd gone! They weren't on the boat anymore, where would they have gone? Who's house? China sat on the cobblestones and thought, ignoring the small panda cub that crawled out of container on his back and was now chewing his hair. Would they be at England's house? It probably didn't hurt to try there first, then on to America, and then to France, though Yao would be horrified if they'd brought Kiku into that pervert's home, so would Kiku probably! He had to get to England's house, who knew what they were doing to his poor brother?

* * *

"He's so thin…" Alfred looked down at his real doll who lay in one of the spare rooms in England's house. He was still very beautiful, still very cute, but he looked sickly and ill now, he looked like he was barely clinging on to life… Alfred hadn't left his doll's bed side, even when they, meaning Matthew and Francis, tried to lure him out with a hamburger and chips. It was his fault that the man, who was small enough to be a boy now, was in such a bad state. He should have paid more attention to him! He should have made sure he ate something! But no…it was all his fault, all his fault that he was such in a state. Poor little thing… Alfred reached to brush strands of silky black hair from the young looking nation's eyes. Alfred wasn't stupid, he knew what this man must be, if he really was the same person Arthur saw all those years ago, he, Alfred F Jones had discovered a new nation! This would be remembered in the books of history for hundreds of years! How America found a new nation, took him for his own and… Alfred's bubble burst, the happy bubble inside him deflated as he looked at the sick, starving nation before him, he had to eat soon, otherwise he would waste away… Who knew what would happen to his country because of that? Alfred didn't want to go down in history as the person who had murdered such a beautiful nation…

He sighed, but then remembered something. He remembered something from when he used to be small. When he was ill, or lonely, or sad, he used to go to Arthur, who would hold him, give him a hot cup of tea, and tell him a fairy story… It used to always make him feel better, it worked every time. So what if he tried that? He wandered out the room to make two cups of tea, then returned with them, and a small book he had taken from Arthur's study. The beautiful doll was still unconscious when he returned but Alfred put the tray that held the tea cups on their saucers and the small book, down and sat on the end of the bed, never the less. He took the small man into his arms, readjusted the covers again and then picked up the book. He was very light against him, and he seemed so frail and delicate. As Alfred shifted so the doll's head rested against the collar of his jacket. Alfred had changed his clothes, he had been wearing that robe-thing ever since they took him, so he really needed to change. Everything Alfred had was way to big for him, so he snatched several items from Canada's laundry whilst his 'brother' wasn't paying attention. However they were still too big for the little doll. He was clad in a pair of baggy tracksuit bottoms and a beige t-shirt, they hung off his thin frame making him look even more skeletal. Alfred should have never let him starve himself…what had he hoped to achieve out of that? Was he so desperate to escape them he wanted to kill himself?

"Don't die," he told the unconscious doll in his eyes, he stroked the pale face of his beautiful doll as he opened the book and tried to find a good story, the scent of tea wafted through the room.

"Once upon a time was a beautiful land of magic and wishes, where every child was blessed and happiness was plentiful. There was a great celebration through out the land, for the King and Queen had just had a beautiful baby girl…" Alfred continued to read until he heard footsteps and looked up, glancing at the doorway. It was Arthur standing in the doorway with a smile on his face. He didn't say anything, just smiled and nodded and walked away, a sense of pride seemed to come from him. It was one of those rare moments when Alfred actually acknowledged the fact Arthur had raised him, but now he had to care for the weak doll in his arms…lets just hope he was as good as Arthur. If Arthur had raised a hero, then as a hero he should be able to at least help someone…

"The dark fairy looked upon the beautiful baby girl and said, when she becomes of age she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel…" The doll stirred and Alfred's heart leapt, but nothing else happened, so he continued to read.

* * *

Yao hurried up to the front door and hammered it until someone replied.

"AMERICA!" He shouted upon seeing who had opened the door, "HOW DARE YOU…"

"I'm…I'm not Am…"

"Don't give me that rubbish! Where is he America?"

"I'm not America! I'm Ca…"

"WHERE IS HE?"

"I'm Canada!" Yao stared at the man before him, looking him up and down. America didn't carry a white bear round with him, he was also taller. Maybe this wasn't America after all. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

"Then where is America?" he asked this stranger.

"I'll take you to him!" said the stranger, who seemed frightened by China's sudden yelling. He let Yao in and closed the door, blinking when he saw the black and white bear riding on the man's shoulder. Kumajiro looked up at it, the panda stared at Kumajiro, Canada turned away and hurried down the hall saying,

"Follow me!" Yao did as instructed and followed the blond. So the blond he didn't know was Canada? However that wasn't important right now! These idiots had Kiku! He followed Canada up a set of stairs.

"Alfred is in the guest bed room on the left," said Canada, as the panda, who didn't like all this running about, took a daring leap off Yao's shoulder and scampered away. Yao didn't notice as he barged into the guest room, flinging the door open. He gasped at the sight of Kiku in the arms of that imbecile, America.

"China, what are you doing…?" SLAP!

"Get away from my brother!" Yao scooped Kiku into his own arms, shoving the larger nation off the bed onto the floor.

"Hey!"

"What did you do to him?" demanded Yao, fussing over the thin nation in his arms.

"You've starved him! You barbaric torturers!"

"We didn't starve him!" said Alfred, indignant from being slapped, shoved on the floor, and then accused of hurting his precious doll.

"Then why is like a skeleton!" said Yao, checking his brother's pulse to see whether he was still alive, thankfully he was.

"He refused to eat anything! I have no idea why! What concern is it to you? What have…"

"Answer me this," said Yao, "If…if…Canada… was kidnapped by random strangers how you feel?" Canada must be some sort of relation, they looked very similar.

"If…If…" Alfred didn't seem to understand, "Is he your…"

"Little brother," said Yao, "He's my little brother, I helped raise him, he's part of my family like…like you and England and France, and Canada…" Alfred gaped at him.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, getting off his bottom and dusting down his trousers.

"Because I had no idea you were just going to go there and kidnap him! Poor little Kiku…he must have been terrified. He's a recluse, his nation is isolated, and you just grabbed him and ran!"

"Ki…Kiku…" said Alfred, "That's his name?" Yao gave him a stare that meant 'obviously'.

"It's his human name, Honda Kiku,"

"What's his nation name?" asked Alfred. Yao struggled to think of it in English, he knew there was one. As soon as his little family knew of the English language, and spoke some of it, they'd all got English names in case the Europeans showed up on their doorsteps.

"Japan," said Yao, "Which brings me straight to the point I came here for! I'm taking him ba…" He stopped as Kiku stirred. Yao lowered his brother back on the bed, knowing how Kiku felt about being held, he always raised a fuss whenever anyone tried to hug him… Alfred gasped and hurried to stand beside Yao, but the over-protective brother elbowed the American in the ribs, forcing him back.

"_Kiku-kun, Kiku-kun, it's me, wake up…"_ Alfred stared at Yao who had just switched languages and now he had no idea what he was saying.

"Err…what are you speaking?"

"Japanese, now shut up," was Yao's waspish reply.

* * *

Kiku suddenly became aware of someone talking. He was still enveloped in that warm comforting darkness, deeper than sleep, but he could definitely hear voices. They were incredibly faint, as if the speakers were standing very far away and Kiku couldn't make out what they were saying. Wait…that accent…it was Moron. Moron was talking. But he was talking to someone else…

"I'm taking him ba…" Kiku recognised the voice! It was speaking in that undecipherable language the blond men talked but it was definitely Yao! He tried to get up, but his body wasn't responding, it was Yao! Yao was rescuing him! He decided to never push away or ignore his brother ever again, relief flooded through him, he was saved!

"_Kiku-kun, Kiku-kun, it's me, wake up…"_ He was trying, he was trying, he was still so weak, so hungry… but he tried. He heard Yao talking in that language again as he slowly, ever so slowly, brought himself back to the conscious world at last. He opened his eyes and saw two faces above him, blurry and foggy, soon they came into focus…it was Yao! And on the downside, Moron was there as well.

"Y…Y…Y…Ya…" His throat was dry, he could barely speak. Yao turned to Moron.

"Don't just stand there, go and get him some water or something!" Moron was gone.

"_Don't worry Kiku-kun, I'm going to get you out of here,"_ said Yao, _"You still owe me that reunion!" _Kiku tried to give a smile but it came out as a slight grimace. His stomach gurgled, the loudest sound he'd made in a long while. Yao gasped and then sprung to his feet.

"_Kiku-kun, I'm going to find the kitchen in this place and make something you can actually eat! When he comes back pretend you're asleep or something, he's one of those idiots I told you of, and his food is abysmal."_ So he wasn't free? Where was he? But Yao had just hurried off, he was completely alone again.

"I've got water!" No, Moron was still here. He looked sideways, he could see the blond approaching him with the glass.

"Mo…mo…" Moron pressed the glass to his lips, Kiku drank as the water trickled through his slightly parted lips. He coughed and Moron withdrew the glass as his coughs wracked his entire frame.

"You don't know what I'm saying do you Kiku," said Moron, Kiku blinked in surprise, Moron knew his name! Moron raised the glass to his lips again as the smell of Chinese food wafted through the door and a shout rang through the house.

"WHAT THE BLAZES ARE YOU DOING IN MY KITCHEN?" They could hear England from upstairs, though of course Kiku could not understand what he was saying.

"I'm making something your _prisoner_ actually would like to eat!" Yao replied, just as loudly.

"Y…Y…Y…" tried Kiku. Moron got to his feet, putting the empty glass down and ran out the room, leaving him alone.

* * *

"Arthur, it'll probably be the first edible thing to be produced in your kitchen!" Arthur rounded on Francis.

"You're not helping," he said.

"Oui, I never said I was…" Arthur scowled as Yao stole one of his bowls and took some chopsticks from the container on his back and hurried to take his freshly-cooked food up to his brother. He'd used the emergency ingredients he kept with him at all times, and had managed to find some suitable food stuffs in the kitchen, but as long as Kiku ate, it was fine.

"Where are you going?" demanded Arthur. He ran after Yao, but then tripped over and landed face first on the floor. He looked up to see a small black and white animal chewing his curtains.

"Who…who…who let that…that PANDA in here!" Yao didn't turn round to pick up his panda,

"_Chun, follow me!"_ he called in Chinese, the panda wandered away from the curtains and enraged Englishman and followed Yao upstairs whilst Arthur growled darkly into the carpet. Yao bounded up the stairs to find Kiku where he'd left him.

"_Here you go, something decent to eat! No more starving yourself, you hear?"_ Kiku didn't answer but Yao could see in his eyes he was profoundly grateful as Yao did the honours of feeding him with the chopsticks, as the panda, who still hadn't found something to eat, chewed at Kiku's bedcovers. But that didn't matter; it was only England's things it was eating.


	6. Sneaking

**AN: Thank you to ****GoddessSumizofVenus, SanguisRubeus, and Ammy14k for reviewing!**

**I'm feeling oddly patriotic at the moment, there is a lot of Arthur in this chapter. I like him as a character, but maybe its because I'm English and I think he's hilarious as a stereotype, especially his obsessions with the fairies and unicorns.**

**So, Yao is determined to help his brother get better and take him home. However Alfred isn't going to make it that easy, he still wants Kiku for his own. Poor Kiku still has no idea what's going on. He's going to be getting English lessons soon…**

**Tasukete = Help**

**Please enjoy and leave me a review!**

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Chapter Six: Sneaking

"First you barge into my house, then you take over my kitchen and not even wash up after yourself, then your panda-thing eats my curtains and now you want what!" Yao rolled his eyes at the angry Englishman, who seemed to be suffering from immense stress and frustration and was taking it out on the Chinese man. As Yao came to put the bowl, which the contents of, Kiku had finished in no time, in the sink to be washed up, Arthur had rounded on him. As Yao had come down the stairs, he had received some warning of his mood however. As he walked he heard a bang and then,

"Put some clothes on man! … Alfred what are you doing? ... Why is that polar bear in the sink!… Francis, how many times do I have to tell you, those boxers are mine! … Leave that alone! … FRANCE I'M WARNING YOU!" Apparently America and France, and perhaps Canada as well, were driving him nuts. Yao stood in the corridor as Canada ran past with a sopping wet bear, America hurried after him, his mouth full of sweets, and Francis followed suit, wearing only a pair of pink boxer shorts with rainbows across both buttocks. Yao ignored him, and the fact that particular pair of undershorts belonged to England, and just entered the kitchen. He said to England that he wanted to keep Kiku at his house until he got better; he was too weak to travel, so Yao would take him back when he was better.

"He just needs to stay here until he's well enough to go home!" said Yao, "We need him home!"

"We?" asked Arthur, leaning against the kitchen table, looking very weird in a frilly white apron. However he still managed to maintain his dignity like no other could if your 'friend' was currently running round the house in your underwear following the panda who had one of his roses. Said friend walked into the kitchen at the moment.

"FRANCIS GO AWAY!" exploded Arthur, Chun the panda bolted as France dived for him, catching the fetching pink boxers on the edge of a cupboard drawer. They ripped and Arthur let out a cry of

"My pants!" Francis hastily left. There was a moment where England merely stood there, breathing deeply, and then turned back to China.

"As I was saying, we?"

"Yes we!" said Yao, pretending they hadn't just been interrupted by a mostly-naked man.

"Our family! Japan is my little brother, I thought America would have told you that by now."

"What America doesn't tell me could probably fill several books," said Arthur tetchily Yao didn't let this phase him.

"Well I have a family like your…your…" There was another crash from upstairs and a squeal of

"Kumajiro!"

"Dysfunctional mayhem?" suggested Arthur, looking ashamed and embarrassed at his 'family's' behaviour. Yao laughed.

"Don't worry England; my family is just as…weird… as yours." Arthur walked over to the teapot, which he'd neglected, and poured two cups of lukewarm tea.

"I don't see how,"

"Don't get me started," said Yao, expressing some of his own frustration, "Bath time when they were all little was a nightmare. Japan was always a shy quiet reclusive child, but don't get me started on Korea…" Arthur laughed,

"Sounds like Matthew and Alfred,"

"Who?"

"Canada and America. At least you didn't also have to watch… FRANCIS YOU'RE SCARING NEXT DOOR'S CAT!" He had turned and bellowed out the window. Yao stifled his laughter in his sleeve; it was if the large-eyebrowed man had three children not two, one just happened to be a streaker.

* * *

Alfred was being sneaky, very sneaky. China was talking to Arthur downstairs, he'd heard them. After deciding that the two father-like nations were too busy discussing and moaning he decided now was the time to strike. It was a brilliant plan if he said so himself. This was a victory for America, he, Alfred F Jones, would outsmart not only China, but everyone in the entire house! Whilst France was chasing a traumatised Canada and China and England were talking he'd sneak into Kiku's room…and take him home! Not Kiku's home of course, his own home, everything was ready! He crept, 007 style, towards the guest room containing Japan, careful not to make a sound. He didn't want Kiku shouting and getting his brother's attention, which was the biggest problem in Alfred's excellent plan. But a hero had a solution for everything; he had, in his hands, a scarf. It just so happened that the scarf was patterned with stars and stripes, but that was irrelevant as he stood outside the door, ready to leap. He was as quiet as a shadow, as stealthy as a spy, a complete and utter…

"Mo-ron?" Oh damn and blast, he'd been caught! No wait, it was just Kiku…that didn't matter! Time to put his plan into action!

"MINE!" Before Kiku could even react he found himself being flung over the taller man's shoulder, yet again, and carried off.

"Y…Yao-san!" Kiku called, he still was very weak, too weak to struggle America tied the scarf over his mouth, but that didn't stop Kiku trying to call for help, he took the scarf off, (Alfred had not tied his arms this time) and continued to weakly call as Alfred hurried down the stairs.

"Y…Yao-san…Ta…ta…tasukete!"

"Kiku-kun?" It was Yao! Alfred ran out the door and out onto England's driveway, he got in the car, lying Kiku down on the seat next to him, put the key in the ignition and off he went. Kiku was looking around, scared, having never being in a car before

"Mo-ron-san!" he cried, pushing at the dashboard and then the door, he looked absolutely panicked. Alfred continued to drive until he was sufficiently far from the house and then turned and did Kiku's seat belt for him. Kiku tried to shy away from him, eyes wide and fearful, but when Alfred continued their journey, there was nothing he could do but stare and work out, what was this thing? Where was Moron taking him? Would Yao be able to find them? He started to cry, all he wanted to do was go home! Home, where he'd be blissfully alone, away from this horrible new place was full of new people and new things. And Moron was kidnapping him again! He felt so weak and so humiliated. No one should be this weak, he was a nation, he should be strong and resilient and proud! And here was, crying, in this strange thing, with Moron. Moron who kept glancing at him and saying something he didn't even understand. Suddenly he felt something furry brush his ankles. It was Chun the panda, how did he get in here? Kiku just sighed and picked up the panda, straining at the cruel bands that bound him to the chair He sat back and closed his eyes. Maybe he'd just fall asleep and pretend this wasn't happening…

* * *

"WHERE DID HE TAKE HIM!" stormed Yao, Arthur came to stand beside him as both nations stood in the driveway.

"Oh bloody hell Alfred," he said, "Not again…"

"How can you be so calm about this!" exclaimed Yao, sleeves flapping as he panicked

"What if I decided to randomly kidnap Canada! How would you feel?" Arthur seemed to consider him for a moment before saying:

"Point taken, right, the idiot has probably taken him to his house. Get in the car, oh and take your damn panda out of my house!"

"Chun!" called Yao, walking back into the house, "Chun! Chun come here!" The panda didn't come, instead Canada did. He was holding a scarf patterned like the American flag with white tassels on the ends.

"I found this," he said, "It's Alfred's…where did he go?" But Yao and Arthur weren't looking at him; the scarf was frayed slightly…as if something had been chewing at it.

"America has Chun!" said Yao in outrage, "First he steals my brother, and then my panda!"

"Un…unless the panda snuck into Alfred's car and accidentally got taken?" said Canada, but no one was listening into him. Arthur went to get his car keys and when he returned, he opened the door to his large black automobile.

"Matthew, are you coming too?" Canada seemed to consider it. He had the choice of coming on another crazy journey concerning his brother, or be left in a house with only France for company…

"I'm…I'm fine," said Canada, as Arthur and Yao got into the car. Canada turned and walked back into the house, calmly. However what he saw next changed his mind in an instant.

"MON PETIT GARCON!" He turned and ran, dashing back to the driveway, opened the door, and flung himself onto the backseats of the car.

"I'm coming with you!" he proclaimed, Arthur smiled and drove out the driveway as Francis came running after them, but they were gone.


	7. Friends and Allies

**AN: Thank you to ****kurai ren, GoddessSumizofVenus, Ammy14k, TheFlyingPotato64 and SanguisRubeus for all reviewing!**

**Sorry for the slow update, I'm half way through my two months of exams and I haven't had a lot of time to write.**

**So, Alfred has kidnapped Kiku again! Understandably Kiku is terrified of him now, what can Alfred do to show he means no harm? Also, where are Arthur and Yao? Can they save Kiku from the noisy American kidnapper?**

**Please enjoy, and review!**

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Chapter Seven: Friends and Allies

Alfred carried his prize into his house and laid him gently in an armchair in his lounge. Kiku looked at his with large round frightened eyes, looking at Alfred as if he was some sort of monster or alien…

"I'm not going to hurt you," said Alfred, but the nation carried on staring at him with large round brown eyes, full of fear. When Alfred took a step forward, he shied away, pressing against the back of the armchair, trying to get away from his kidnapper who was staring back at him. Alfred didn't really know what to do. The poor doll was scared out of his wits and now he thought about it the whole situation must be pretty terrifying. Being kidnapped by a person he neither knew nor understood the language of. Alfred looked at the small man in the armchair… There must be someway to show he meant no harm. He looked around, some sort of gift… to show he meant well… He spotted two bars of chocolate lying on a nearby table. That was it! Food solved everything! He picked up the two bars of chocolate and approached Kiku, Japan, who was still watching him.

"Here, take this…" He said, trying to hand the bar of chocolate to Kiku. Kiku stared at it, as if the brightly wrapped bar was going to hurt him. Alfred picked up his own and waved it around a bit, feeling foolish, but he wanted to show it was safe. Kiku extended a thin pale hand towards the bar and took it. He inspected it closely and then looked up at Alfred a slight frown on his face, as if wondering what it was. Alfred made sure he was watching before taking the wrapper off, showing him how to do it. Kiku looked down at his own bar, and copied the motion, the chocolate fell out the wrapper and Alfred picked it up and handed it back to him. Kiku inspected the chocolate and looked at Alfred, who made an eating motion with his mouth, and then took a bite from his chocolate, and swallowed.

"Chocolate," he said, taking another bite.

"Chyo-co-le-to?"

"Choc-o-late," repeated Alfred as Kiku took a tentative bite of the brown bar. Apparently he found it to his liking because it took another bite, smearing his lips with the brown substance as he eagerly ate.

"Chyo-co-leto,"

"No –o, on the end." said Alfred. Even though he couldn't pronounce it, Kiku seemed to like the chocolate a lot; Alfred gave him half his bar to show that he was being kind and generous.

"Chyoco-leto, Mo-ron-san…" Kiku seemed to be trying out the English words he knew. Through Alfred didn't know why he added the –san to moron.

"Mo-ron-san," Kiku was pointing at him, at his face. Alfred ran a hand across his face and realised he had had chocolate round his mouth. But as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve he thought of something. Kiku had called him a moron again but it didn't seem he was trying to offend him. It was as if Kiku genuinely thought, but how could he? Kiku thought his name was Moron?

"Kiku?"

"Hai?" Alfred assumed this meant yes. He pointed at himself,

"I am America," he said. Kiku stared at him.

"A…mer…i…ca," Kiku stared at him for a moment before saying

"Mo-ron-san?"

"No, no I'm not Moron-san!" said Alfred shaking his head.

"I am America, you are Kiku," He pointed at him, then pointed back at himself, "I am America," Kiku just stared at him, when suddenly Alfred had an idea. He tore out the room. Arthur left some pictures in his house, of an alliance agreement… there they were! He hurried back to find Kiku inspecting the chocolate wrapper with great interest.

"Look," he said, waving the picture. Kiku looked at it, he recognised one person at once.

"Yao-san?" He was looking at the familiar face of China in the picture, who was looking slightly stressed as he stood with the other nations.

"Yao," Alfred said pointed, "Alfred," He pointed at himself in the picture. Kiku looked up at Alfred and then at the picture.

"A-he-re-de," That was close but definitely not his name.

"Al-fre-d," he said.

"A-le-fe-re-de" That was closer.

"Ale-fre-de," After a few more tries he said.

"Alfred-san,"

"Good!" said Alfred, smiling wider, he still didn't know why he added –san to the end but that didn't matter. He decided to try some more names, in case the others arrived for a visit.

* * *

"What do you mean you're lost?" asked Yao. As Arthur looked around and pulled out a map.

"I mean that I have currently misplaced our position in relation to the rest of the world," said Arthur, looking at the map and then checked the date.

"Oh damn it, this is a hundred years old!"

"A hundred years old? You even brought the wrong map! This is hopeless! Are you sure the boat went the right way! Are you sure we went across the right ocean, we're not in… France or something?" Yao was getting incredibly stressed. Who knew what the American was doing to his poor little brother! Probably force-feeding him disgusting American food as he sat here and waited for England to work out where they were! And Chun, they had Chun as well! Hopefully Kiku and Chun would find hope in each other, knowing Yao was coming to save them! If that English fool got his act together! Suddenly there was the sound of running footsteps and both Yao and Arthur looked round. Canada was running towards them with a tray laden with…pancakes?

"Who would wants maple syrup on their pancakes?" he said cheerily. Kumajiro caught up with them, covered in pancake batter. Yao stared at him, but Arthur got their first when it came to saying,

"How the hell did you make pancakes out here? And where did you get the syrup from?" Canada looked puzzled.

"My house is just up there," he gestured up the road, "I thought we were stopping off for a quick break and then moving on." Yao and Arthur stared at each other.

"We're in Canada!" exclaimed Yao, "Not America! How could you get that wrong!"

"It wasn't my fault; you were the one with the map!"

"You brought the hundred year old map!"

"You should have looked at the date!"

"I didn't think you were stupid enough to bring the wrong map!" Canada watched as the two 'father figures' bickered. He sat down and started to watch them as If they were an interesting play. He poured syrup on the pancakes and began to eat, occasionally giving some to Kumajiro.

* * *

Kiku couldn't quite work out why he was kidnapped. It didn't seem his kidnapper, Alfred-san, didn't have any ill-intentions or didn't seem to be trying to get anything from him, or be trying to get him to do something he wanted. He didn't understand why he wanted him here, but Kiku knew he was being treated like a guest, not a prisoner. Alfred was treating him perfectly nicely. He had his own room to sleep in, and he had been given clothes in the style that Alfred's people wore. He understood, like himself, Alfred had or was a country, he was 'America'. He was given huge amounts of food, this seemed to be normal for Alfred but did all his people really eat such a vast quantity of food. Of course Kiku was polite and accepted what he should, but that didn't mean he ate it. He had tried lots of America's food, his favourite so far was chocolate. But apparently you could drink chocolate as well, and Alfred had promised to buy him some drinking chocolate soon. Kiku was learning English, Alfred had found a book meant for tourists, and it had instructions for those who were Chinese. Kiku, who could read Chinese, dedicated his time to learning how to speak some English. Apparently "England', the country, was the strange loud man with the large eyebrows. According to Alfred he was always 'angry', a word he learnt out the guide, but the words he didn't know were 'bosi' and 'iri-ta-be-le. He didn't know how they were spelt and he did not know how to ask for Alfred to write them down, so he did not ask. However he was getting better! He could now introduce himself and say whether he liked or disliked and ask where some things were. He had also tried teaching Alfred some Japanese, but it turned out he was a better pupil than teacher, because Alfred didn't seem to get it. He also had learnt what 'moron' meant, it was a way of calling someone an idiot. He still called Alfred, Moron-san, sometimes, because the faces he pulled were quite funny.

He did not know how long he had been with Alfred, he guessed it must be a few weeks at most, he still desperately wanted to go home. He liked Alfred's company, but he wanted to go home, what would the state of his house be like after he'd left it for all this time? Kiku's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knocking sound and Alfred called,

"One minute!" Kiku left his position sitting at the top of the stairs and wandered down to see a strange man at the door, talking to Alfred. He was tall, muscular, and dressed casually. He had brown hair with a strange curl on the top, and the most bizarre thing about him, was that he was absolutely surrounded by cats.

"Ah Greece," said Alfred, "What are you doing here?" One of the cats, a fluffy black and white, left the main group and started to wander towards the staircase.

"Neko-chan…" Kiku said quietly, making soft noises, trying to convince the cat to visit him,

"Neko-chan…" The cat leapt up the remaining stairs and rubbed its head against him, purring. He picked it up and mewed at him, alerting the two men to his presence.

"America has a guest?" said the new man lazily.

"Yes!" said Alfred, "Heracles, this is Japan, I mean, Kiku!" Kiku gave a polite nod; he was prevented from standing and bowing by the cat that was now sitting on top of him.

"Kiku, this is Heracles, he is Greece," The man gave a casual wave. There was a cat sitting on his head as well.

"What did you call her?" he asked, pointing at the cat on Kiku's lap. Kiku looked down at her.

"Neko," he said, "Japanese for Cat."

"I see," said Heracles, nodding. He turned back to America.

"I came here to talk to you, about your tourists."

"What about them?" asked Alfred. Kiku looked at the small black and white cat who was trying to get his attention. He gently stroked it as it purred in his lap. Greece and America continued to talk.

"They are littering all over the places I can sleep…" whilst Kiku went quietly back upstairs with his new friend. He discovered Chun the panda in his room, and introduced the cat to the panda and visa versa, as the noise of America disturbed the peace and quiet of the house.


	8. A Jealous Host

**AN: A huge apology for updating so slowly! I'm sure you don't want to read my excuses so I'll just get to the chapter.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Your feedback is what keeps me writing this story and I'm open to any comments you may have, this is my first venture into Hetalia fan fiction so I'm interested in what people think!**

**So, it seems so long ago I might need to remind myself… Kiku is in Alfred's house and Heracles is here to stay until Alfred sorts out his noisy tourists. Heracles and Kiku get on very well, but what does this mean for Alfred?**

**Please enjoy, and review!**

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Chapter Eight: A Jealous Host.

Kiku looked at the notes stuck all round his room. This was the same for the rest of the house because Alfred thought it was a good idea for him to know what everything was in English so they had spent an afternoon together naming everything as Alfred pinned of stuck notes for him to remember. Then they had spent the rest of the day in the garden with the new arrival who was staying for at least a fortnight because there were no other boats going back to Greece for that long and Heracles was too lazy to hire his own. Apparently he'd arrived on a boat carrying fabric to the country and intended to get the same ship back. Therefore he and his cat entourage were staying in Alfred's house. Not that either minded, Heracles wasn't exactly a high maintenance guest. He spent most the time sleeping or playing with his cats, he didn't need entertaining. He had allowed Kiku to keep the cat that had approached him a few days ago. Kiku had named her "Chouko" because she enjoyed chasing the butterflies in the garden. He explained to Heracles that "Chou" meant butterfly. Chun the panda didn't get on very well with Chouko the cat so they had to kept apart, Heracles helped him a lot, in fact he was a very patient calm person to talk to and Kiku found himself preferring to talk to the Greek than the loud noisy American. Especially after a certain…incident.

He had left his room to go to the bathroom, crossing the hallway to the bathroom that was directly opposite the room that Alfred had so generously given him. He saw that the door was unlocked, which meant he could go in, he opened the door.

"KIKU!" He slammed the door shut, red in the face. He ran away from the bathroom as fast as he could, down the stairs and into the living room where Heracles was sitting, getting mobbed by cats as he fed them scraps of fish.

"Kiku?"

"I…I…I…" He couldn't find the words to explain what had happened, he didn't know whether he wanted to know the words for what had happened. Heracles moved a few cats and gestured for Kiku to sit down.

"What did you see?" Kiku was wide eyed and shocked so Greece could only guess it was something he'd seen. Probably because of America. Kiku sat next to Heracles and stuttered.

"Al…Alfred-san…no…clo…clothes!" Heracles stared at him,

"No clothes…no clothes…bathroom…Heracles-san!" He had seen Alfred naked and gone into shock it seemed to the Greek.

"You saw him in the bath?" Alfred should have locked his door, it was a fairly basic thing to do. But why was Kiku paper white and shocked? He was just naked…

"No…no…just …no clothes!" Alfred was walking round his bathroom naked? Well he was at perfect liberty to, it was his bathroom, but he really should have locked the door! Heracles remembered the time Kiku had found him sunbathing topless outside, he had thrown a blanket at him and run away, what problem did Kiku have with nudity?

"You don't like nu..no clothes do you?" he said to Kiku. He nodded,

"No clothes is…bad," Greece could tell he meant something else and then remembered something. He pulled something out of one of his pockets, displacing several cats as he went.

"I bought this, I was following a cat, and I found a book shop," He handed the book to Kiku who looked at it, his eyes widening. There were hand written Chinese characters on the front, and underneath it, English words. It read "Chinese-English Translation" Kiku's mouth opened in surprise, this meant, if he knew what an English word was in Chinese, he could translate Chinese into his own language…he could understand! This was much better!

"These are really rare," said Heracles, sighing lazily, "But well…if it helps…"

* * *

It certainly did help a lot. Soon Kiku was finding the names for all sorts of things that had previous eluding him and he could ask for whatever he wanted, whether it be help, food, or directions. He didn't feel so helpless anymore, like he was utterly dependant on the help of his captor, or host as Alfred liked to call himself, or the kind Greek. Kiku found himself spending more and more time with Heracles and his gang of cats, they would go walking through Alfred's extensive garden, ignoring all the signs of equipment and engineering which seemed to be tucked into every nook and cranny. Kiku did not know why, when he walked past a beautiful bed of brightly coloured flowers, there was a huge lump of steel behind it, ruining its simple beauty. In fact he was spending less and less time with Alfred, his walks with Heracles grew more numerous and when there was foul weather, he would play games with the Greek, games that Heracles would teach him how to play. In fact, when with Heracles, it didn't seem like he was a captive, he felt like he was on holiday… He still wanted to go home more than ever, his poor dog was waiting for him to come home… But spending time in this manner made the ordeal much more bearable. Soon he had almost stopped seeing Alfred all together.

Something Alfred had noticed.

He watched, as if he was a spy, searching enemy territory, as Heracles presented Kiku with a pure white kitten and let him scratch it behind the ears. Chun the panda was by his side, peering at the American who was finding that his bill for vegetables had sky rocketed now he had to care for the panda. Yao would kill him if anything happened to it, so he had to make sure it ate the write foods. Alfred didn't have any bamboo, so he had tried to find something close. The task of caring for Kiku however was much easier, not that he had been the one doing it…

"Lucky son of a…" He resisted from cursing, thinking of what England would say but then ignored him and swore anyway. England swore all the time…it was just when he was little he was forbidden to do it by the hypocrite. Well he wasn't little anymore! He knew what he wanted, and how he would get it and he could make a sensible realistic plan on how he'd get it… One that was currently failing miserably, crashing around his ears. When he was on that ship he had thought his idea was brilliant. Step One, kidnap small beautiful man, Step Two, bring said small beautiful man home. Step Three, get small beautiful man to like him. Step Four, live happily ever after. That had been the plan. But there was one huge factor he had not foreseen. Other people wanted what he wanted. Namely that cat-loving lazy man who was currently having fun with _his_ Kiku! As he watched the two men sitting on _his_ chairs, with _his_ tea, with _his_ board games, he couldn't help but feel that Heracles' stay in his house was a little too long. He was no longer welcome, especially not when it concerned Alfred's Kiku! Mind made up, Alfred put the panda on the table so he didn't get in the way and strode into the dining room and ordered in his best authoritive voice,

"GREECE, OUT!" Heracles didn't jump but Kiku definitely did, chess pieces fell to the floor with a clatter. The pieces were lost to the cats clustered about them, as they went pouncing after the rolling pieces.

"Why?" he asked, as if bored.

"You're no longer welcome in my house!" said Alfred, he pointed at the door, on which hung a large American flag as well as Alfred's jacket.

"Leave!" Heracles looked at him curiously.

"Why?"

"Stop asking questions and leave, this is my house and you have spent far too long in it!" Kiku was looking between the American and the Greek with confusion on his face.

"Alfred-san, what are you…?" But Alfred interrupted him.

"Kiku, this doesn't concern you, Greece, get out of my house!" Kiku looked at Heracles with wide eyes as he got to his feet, smiling.

"America?"

"Yes?" said Alfred, still scowling,

"Why are you acting like a wet kitten?"Alfred's anger faded a little as he said, confused,

"A what?"

"A wet kitten," said Greece, "You're angry and defensive, why?" America scowled again,

"None of your business! Just get out of my house…no my country and never come back!" He was angry, so very angry! He had been touching what was not his and now he was looking at Alfred as if he was a sulking child. Well Alfred didn't need to be patronised like that!

"Get OUT!"

"Alfred-san?" said Kiku, looking between the two nations, "Heracles-san?"

"Get away from that man Kiku!" said Alfred stormily.

"Why?" asked Kiku, "Heracles-san has not hurt me, I trust him, he is my friend."

"No he isn't!" said Alfred, so they were friends were they? Kiku didn't call him his friend!

"He is!" said Kiku, "Why are you so angry, why are you sending him away? He has not done anything wrong!"

"Yes he has!" said Alfred.

"What have I done?" asked Heracles with interest, but he still hadn't moved very far.

"You…you…you…" spluttered Alfred, "You are trying to take something that's mine!"

"Heracles-san is a robber?" said Kiku in alarm.

"I haven't taken anything," Heracles said to Kiku, "It's alright, I'm sure America is just having a bad day and need to calm down."

"I AM CALM!" shouted Alfred. Heracles sent Kiku and significant look and Kiku let out a small laugh behind his hand as Heracles chuckled. This was the final straw for Alfred. He took out a gun and pointed it at the Greek who immediately stopped laughing.

"_Get out…"_ he said in a voice that was dangerously quiet.

"Alfred-san, what are you…?" Alfred had grabbed hold of Kiku and wrenched him, by the arm, towards him and held him with an iron grip.

"_If you ever go near my Kiku again…" _whispered Alfred_, "I will make you very sorry indeed…" _They'd never seen Heracles run so fast, cats scampering along beside him. Kiku watched with wide eyes.

"Where's he going?"

"Home, hopefully, for his sake," said Alfred, satisfied. However Kiku definitely wasn't.

"What do you mean _your _Kiku? Why didn't you send him away? He didn't do anything wrong!"

"He was touching what wasn't his!" said Alfred, "You are mine, not some stupid cat-idiot!" Kiku's eyes widened and he wrenched himself out of Alfred's grip and stood determinately before him, scowling almost as much as Alfred was.

"He is not an idiot! And I am not yours!"

"You are mine!" growled Alfred, "I found you, you're mine!" Kiku stared at him, he was acting like a child! Just because you found something, it didn't mean you owned it! He didn't get angry but…but…this selfishness….was this the real reason why he had been so forcibly taken from his home, taken away from everything he had known and loved, his home, his country, his dog…And then he had been taken again when Yao had saved him, the reason he had gone through this degrading weakness, this vulnerability…? Was because America found him and wanted him?

"I am not yours," said Kiku, he had not raised his voice, but there was a coldness in his eyes.

"I am not your belonging, I also want to go home."

"Well you can't," said Alfred, somewhere, deep, very deep, in his conscience, he knew that treating Kiku like this wasn't going to make him look any better in those chestnut eyes but he didn't care right now. All he knew, that man could be lurking around still and he had to Kiku away, as soon as possible!

"We're leaving," he said, raising the gun when Kiku made a noise of protest.

"Are you taking me home?"

"No," said Alfred firmly. He saw indecision flicker in Kiku's eyes but then… Alfred didn't know what had hit him. When he landed crashing into the table he saw Kiku bring his foot back to its original position on the floor. He had delivered a powerful kick to his chest but Alfred bounced back upwards and ran at the Japanese man.

A fight started. Kiku was not going to let himself be kidnapped again. Nor was he weak, starved, or frightened anymore. The only good thing about being here had been sent running and now Kiku wanted to go home. He was much more nimble and agile than the bulky American and Alfred had never seen anything like how he was fighting.

"Why do you have to be so…damn…flexible…" Alfred muttered as Kiku escaped his grip once again, jumping onto the table, catching him under the chin with his foot as he did so. He landed on his hands and flipped over the other side of the table, sucking on his lip as it started to bleed. He had knocked the gun from Alfred's hand so it was no threat as it had skidded under a dresser and out of sight. Now all they had to fight with their feet and fists. That was until Alfred had started to throw chairs…

"Ah…" Kiku spotted his way out, the door had been left open! He tore towards it, Alfred yelled and soon was trying to grab him. Kiku once again reached a fighting stance and blocked every blow sent at him, trying to knock him out no doubt. He moved backwards towards the door as he stayed on the defence, however, he didn't know this house as well as Alfred did. He let out a cry as he fell down the two steps that led into the dining room. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Alfred jumped on him, pinning him down completely. Kiku fought furiously but Alfred reached for an ornament on a nearby table in the narrow hall. With a cry of

"MINE!" He hit the smaller man round the head with it. Kiku gave a yell, and Alfred hit him again, knocking him out cold. Once his opponent had been subdued Alfred looked at his living doll. Blood was trickling down Kiku's forehead and he hastily wiped it with a gentle wipe of the sleeve. Right, they were leaving, somewhere no one would look for him…Canada! His brother would always give him room! No one ever bothered with Matthew, it would be the perfect hiding spot!

He picked up the limp form of his living doll, and took him upstairs, there he collected a few items, including his porcelain replica, and headed out to his car. It would be a long journey. He laid Kiku on the back seats, covering him in a blanket and then, on a second though, tied his hands and legs up so he wouldn't escape when he came round. However, blood was still gushing from his head. He quickly went inside and found some bandages, and some snacks for the journey. He quickly checked on his guest, bandaged his head, and then got back into the driver's seat. Before he started the car he took out the porcelain model of his beautiful guest…this version of Kiku was far less problematic…the man could fight, his current soreness proved that. But he shouldn't be worried, of course Kiku would grow to like him as much as Alfred liked Kiku, who wouldn't? He was him!

* * *

A lone blond sat outside the overly-large house and looked around.

"That stupid English jerk, leaving me alone in his house, and now Alfred et ses petit amour have gone!" He sat moodily on the doorstep and looked at the gravel beneath his feet. Suddenly he heard a meow and a small white cat walked past. Then another, and then, yet another… Francis was slightly surprised by this, but in his boredom all he could do was sit there and count cats as small groups of them past.

"Deux chats…cinq chats…huit chats… Grèce?" Greece had followed the cats but it was the only time Francis had seen the laid back man, running.

"France!" said Heracles, "I need to use your car!"

"Why?" asked Francis, getting to his feet.

"Because Alfred just hit Kiku unconscious and he's bleeding like mad and I don't think Alfred can see how bad it is. They're on their way to Canada, if your car is faster than his…"

"Of course it is!" said Francis, "French…" Greece didn't let him finish as he flung himself into the driver's seat. Francis quickly climbed into the passenger seat.

"Can you even drive?" he asked.

"No," said Heracles. Francis rolled his eyes.

"I will do it then," They swapped seats and they were off.


	9. Catching the Eagle

**AN: Thank you to Stitch-Patch, GoddessSumizofVenus and Zelda-FF for reviewing! Thank you for giving me the inspiration to keep writing this!**

**So, Alfred is on the run with Kiku and Francis and Heracles are after him! Is Greece right to say that Japan may be hurt more than America thinks?**

**So a car chase is in order! Can Alfred out drive Francis and who else is on his tail?**

**Enjoy and please leave me a review!**

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Chapter Nine: Catching the Eagle.

"It was nice of that man to lend us his car," said Yao, Arthur nodded, focussing on the road as Kumajiro settled himself on his head, much to the protest of the rather bored Canada. They drove down the long expanse of road, which was utterly devoid of other cars until…

"England!" said Yao, grabbing the steering wheel so the car turned dangerous and Arthur had to hit the brakes to stop them crashing into a nearby ditch.

"What!" he demanded.

"That's America's car!" Indeed it was. It was going the opposite way to them but it was deniably America's. It was far larger than any car they had ever seen and it had the tail tale sign of the stars and stripes patterned rug in the back, visible through the windows. Arthur turned the car back round onto the road.

"Faster!" shouted Yao, Arthur grumbled and hit the gas, just as another car came roaring past, a man with his head out the window sat on the passenger side, and he was yelling something at the speeding American, but they couldn't understand what on earth he was saying.

"That's Greece!" said Canada.

"Bloody hell, that's Greece in Francis's car!" said Arthur, he revved the engine and sped towards the two cars. He could just make out Francis in the driver's seat of the car in front and he blew his horn three times and over took him. Francis replied with the same and Heracles almost fell out the car from the noise. He hastily pulled himself in as Francis accelerated to overtake Arthur but keep up with Alfred who was clearly going as fast as his car would allow, he had no doubt realised who exactly was after him. Arthur and Francis were neck and neck. Heracles had chosen it was safer to shout out the sun roof of the French car, and Yao decided to follow his example in the American loaned one.

"DON'T WORRY KIKU, WE'RE HERE TO HELP!"

"_DON'T WORRY KIKU, YOUR BROTHER WILL SAVE YOU!"_

"KIKU, HOLD ON, YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT!"

"_DON'T LET THAT IDIOT HURT YOU, WE'LL BE THERE SOON!" _Arthur forced Yao to sit down.

"We're faster if you stay inside the car!" Yao continued to shout as they sped ahead of Francis and Heracles and were almost when a huge cloud of smoke erupted from Alfred's car and it went zooming ahead.

"He's too fast!" They heard Francis shout from the other car.

"We can't give up!" said Yao, "Forwards! Forwards! Forwards!" Arthur knew the petrol tank was getting dangerously low, but he went at full speed, revving the engine to an ungodly noise and zooming down the road with Francis copying him behind him.

* * *

England and France were on his tail, he just knew it! Alfred was going faster than he'd ever gone in this car before, he could only hope it wouldn't break down. He could hear roars of engines, loud shouts and the sound of the tires bumping on the uneven road. He heard unintelligible shouts in what must be Chinese, Yao was in one of the cars behind him, he also heard shouts in English but he knew who was shouting, Greece! Greece had managed to get in a car with someone, he hadn't gone home! Well there was no way he would be getting his hands on Kiku! He hit the gas as hard as he could and sped down the road, he had to get to Canada's house! There he could hide! Canada would let him in! He sped down the road, it shouldn't be that far! He saw signs on the road, oh screw the official border control! He swerved to the left and he heard Kiku slid with a thump into the side of the car. His bandages were stained crimson with blood that was starting to stain the back seats. He still had not regained consciousness but Alfred still didn't have the time to feel guilty, he had to get away from the others! Arthur, Yao, Francis and Heracles were all after him! He sped down the familiar roads and finally got to an unpoliced part of the border, he drove through several bushes and onto the road again, speeding towards Canada's house again. He glanced in the wind mirror and was horrified to see Arthur and Yao were still after him! He'd lost Francis and Heracles, that was good, but how did they catch up with him! Their car was covered in leaves and sticks, they had evidently taken his route.

"GIVE UP ALFRED!" yelled Yao, "Give up my brother!"

"Y…Y…Yao…?" Kiku had woken up, he let out a cry of agony as his damaged head hit the side of the car again. It hurt so much, it felt like his head was splitting in two!

"Don't worry Kiku!" said Alfred cheerfully. Kiku attempted to sit up but fell back down with a quiet wail. He contented himself with sending a scared but angry look at the back of Alfred's seat.

"We're h…DARN IT!" In Canada's drive way were two cars, one of which was Canada's, but the other, Francis and Heracles stood in front of it, not only that. Alfred's car sudden swerved out of control, Alfred let out a desperate cry as if span round and smashed straight into a tree. Alfred lurched forwards, luckily for him the air bag burst into life, but Kiku was no so lucky, he rolled forwards and collided with the seats and started to sob from the pain on his injured head. The door was opened and two pairs of hands pulled Alfred out the car and pushed him to the floor. Whilst on the floor he saw the nails that had been spread on the floor, puncturing his tyres… Greece immediately scooped Kiku out of the car.

"Kiku, you're alright…"

"Heracles….Heracles-san…" Kiku sobbed, he was feeling faint, probably from blood loss. He lost consciousness again just as Arthur, Yao and Matthew pulled up in the driveway, just clear of the nails.

"KIKU!" Yao yelled and hurried over to Heracles, taking him from him and checking his head.

"He's hurt him! He's hurt him!" He rounded on Matthew,

"Go and get him a doctor!" he barked, Matthew nodded and hurried away. Yao held his little brother close to him as Arthur and Francis picked Alfred up off the floor.

"What do you think you're playing at!" demanded Arthur, Alfred stared at him, and then looked down at the ground.

"You wrecked my car," he said to Francis.

"That's not important," said Arthur, "What were you doing you imbecile! Just let the poor man go! Why are you doing this to him!"

"Because he's mine…" whined Alfred, "Because I won't let _him_ have him!" He stood up and pointed at Greece, who was watching the procession on cats that were leaving Francis's car, rather shaken from the chase.

"He's a person!" stormed Arthur, "You've got your porcelain toy, there's no need to take him! He's a nation! There was probably an earthquake or something when you hit him over the head! What possessed you to do that?"

"He was fighting," said Alfred, stubbornly, "He was fighting me,"

"Of course he was!" said Yao, "You were hurting him! As soon as he's better, he's coming home!" Alfred ground his teeth, Kiku couldn't go home!

"Let's get him inside," said Arthur, walking towards the front door, "Where's Matthew? Oh, he's gone…"

"I have keys," said Alfred, holding them up, "But I won't let you have them,"

"What!" exclaimed Yao and Arthur.

"Let me carry Kiku, let me look after him, then I'll give the keys to you," The others looked at each other and Yao handed Kiku over, muttering darkly in Chinese and Arthur took the keys. However as soon as they entered the house Yao crept up behind the American and delivered a precise kick between the legs, causing Alfred to howl, drop Kiku, and Yao to catch him and hurry with him upstairs to find somewhere comfortable to put him.

* * *

Canada arrived with an ambulance, which stopped before the nails, which Francis was now picking up. They hurried upstairs and everyone was chucked out the room whilst the doctor and two nurses ran back and forth, trying to make Kiku's head better. Alfred paced outside, closely watched by Arthur and Yao who seemed to be his guards. They waited and waited, hearing nothing except the movement of people and Alfred's footsteps. That was until…

"ACHOO!" The loud noise made them jump.

"ACHOO!" Yao gave another loud sneeze and took a handkerchief out of his sleeve and blew his nose loudly.

"Dear God man!" Arthur exclaimed, the silence had fooled them into a state of rest and sleepiness and Yao's sneeze had given the Englishman a great shock.

"ACHOO!"

"Stop that will you!" But Yao kept on sneezing.

"I've…ACHOO…caught a cold…English…American…cold weather…ACHOO…"

"My weather is perfect thank you very much!" said Arthur defensively, "It rained only eighty percent of the summer last year!"

"ACHOO…I don't feel very well…" Yao staggered into the wall, "Stress isn't good for me…I'm…I'm pretty old you know…ACHOO!" Just then Canada appeared, when he saw Yao leaning against the wall he looked at him in concern and turned to the others, who shrugged.

"Does anyone want a drink?" he asked, "Water? Milk? Juice? I've got beer as well…"

"I'll have a beer!" said Arthur, almost at once,

"Ok, three beers, Alfred?"

"Three?" asked Arthur, Canada nodded.

"You, me, and Francis," Arthur groaned,

"What have I told you about giving Francis alcohol!" Matthew looked a bit shifty for a moment.

"Err…I…I can contain him,"

"I hope so," said Arthur, who wasn't in the mood for this right now. Matthew turned to Alfred,

"Do you want a beer?"

"No," said Alfred, Matthew looked surprised, but was prevented from asking why the sudden change in his brother by

"ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!"

"Oh for goodness sake Yao!" said Arthur, "If its that bad go and sit down, Matthew get him some tea or something,"

"What about a doctor?" asked Matthew,

"A good cup of tea will solve everything," said Arthur, "Where's your kitchen?" Matthew led him and Yao away, leaving Alfred on his own.

* * *

The doctor and nurses immerged from Kiku's room and spotted Alfred, who was still outside.

"Sir, he'll make a full recovery, just let him rest and make sure he eats and drinks plenty of water. He's slightly underweight, but that may be due to the fact he's not from these parts. Just look after him and he'll be as right as rain in no time," Alfred nodded, as they left. Alfred didn't know, but they met Canada on the way down and he took them to see Yao. However America had other things on his mind, Kiku had spent a lot of time with the doctors, was he terribly injured? If it was it was all his fault, guilt was clawing at his insides, the first time since he had kidnapped, he felt bad for what he had done. All the trauma Kiku was going through was his fault, he had kidnapped him, he had kidnapped him not once but twice, he'd beat his head in with a trophy! Of course Kiku didn't trust him, like him, as much as Alfred liked the Japanese man, he was being so horrible! He was more like a villain than a hero! And now Yao was ill Kiku probably wouldn't be going home in a while, right! There was only one thing to do, he would be the hero, he would be Kiku's brother whilst Yao was ill! He'd look after him as much as he could and maybe, maybe Kiku would forgive him. Now was the time to be the hero!

He entered the guest bedroom where Kiku had been left, holding the shoebox he brought everywhere with him. It was light and airy with a huge window over looking Matthew's extensive garden which was full of bright flowers bed, leading off to a dense woodland area. The light filled the room making it seem almost cheerful. Alfred stopped looking at the room and looked at Kiku who lay in the double bed, white bandages wrapped tightly round his head. He looked as beautiful as ever, perhaps even more so, with the fresh light illuminating his slightly tired features. Alfred saw he was currently asleep and dragged a chair to his bedside, staring at the man before him. He wasn't a doll, he was a person, he should stop treating him like an object.

"Sorry Japan…" he said in a low voice, in case anyone was listening in on him in his moment of weakness.

"I'm really sorry Kiku, I…I…I'm an idiot…a moron…" He glanced at the sleeping figure, he was still perfectly peaceful.

"I shouldn't have treated you like an object for the taking, like a bratty child…I wasn't heroic at all…I should have looked and not touched…I'm really sorry." He let out a long sigh,

"I should have treated you better, I should have got so jealous when you were with Greece, if he made you happy, who was I to stop you? I was just being selfish." He felt terrible, utterly terrible, all the time waiting to see him had made him realise how horrible he'd been to Kiku. He was right, heroes didn't kidnap, so he wasn't a hero anymore…

"I was jealous," he said, wanting to keep talking, "Because he could make you smile, I never could…you were scared of me… with good reason…Kiku…" He lent back in his chair and ran his hands through his blond hair, messing it up in his frustration, his glasses had started to mist up and he tried to convince himself that he was not crying, heroes did not cry! But inside he knew that he did. He had ruined it! Ruined any chance he had ever had to get Kiku to like him! He took the little porcelain doll out of its shoebox, why hadn't he made do with just this doll. He felt like a kid in a china shop, smashing things accidentally, but he hadn't broken the thing actually made of porcelain, but its look alike, he had broken the real Kiku.

"I'm sorry!" he choked, "I'm so sorry, I'll take you home at the first opportunity, I prom…" But he didn't get to continue. Kiku's eyes had flickered open and he was looking at Alfred in complete amazement,

"Mo-ron-san?" he breathed, attempting to sit up. Alfred helped him carefully and soon he was propped up on his pillows, staring at him.

"Hey Kiku…" How much had he heard? A pink blush had appeared on Kiku's soft features.

"Mo-ron-san…I have not been in sleep since the people left," He wasn't sleeping at all! Alfred felt like such an idiot! You didn't make tearful confessions to people whilst they were actually conscious! That never happened!

"And now I feel like an idiot," he said aloud. Kiku continued to stare at him.

"Alfred-san is not an idiot," he said after a moment's silence, "He is…confu…not sure of what he is doing,"

"Yes," said Alfred, "Yes, I have no…no idea what I'm doing…" He hated to admit his own weakness but now he had, he didn't feel any better for it."

"May I ask…Alfred-san a question?" asked Kiku tentatively. Alfred nodded in response.

"Why? Why did you take me away from my home?" Alfred passed him the porcelain doll and watched his reaction. Kiku looked at it in confusion for a moment and then gasped,

"This…This…this is me…?" Alfred nodded.

"It belongs to England," he said, "Years and years back he went on a voyage by ship and he and his men saw you, at your home. One of his men made this doll, and he left it to England when he died. England left it at my house and I found it one day.." Kiku stared at the doll, utterly astonished. Alfred waited for him to say something, when he didn't, he continued.

"When I learnt where it came from, I just had to come and find you,"

"Why?" asked Kiku, who was still looking at his porcelain self with wide chestnut eyes.

"Because you are beautiful," Alfred, realising what he'd just said, put his head in his hands, his face going red. Why! Why did he just say that! It was true! It was definitely true, but he didn't have to say it. He had made such a prat out of himself! He peeped out between his fingers and saw Kiku staring at him in shock. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes were even wider than usual and that pink blush was back and much brighter.

"I…I…I..I…" he stuttered, he said something unintelligible in Japanese. He put the doll down and felt his burning cheeks, blushing even darker upon feeling how warm they were.

"Sorry!" said Alfred hurriedly, "Sorry I didn't mean to…!"

"There is no need to be sorry," said Kiku, breathlessly, he looked back at Alfred, "I…It's just…no one has ever…no one has called me beau…beautiful before…"

"Oh," was all that Alfred could manage. Kiku looked at his knees, suddenly shy.

"I…I…I…I think Alfred-san is…is…very…very…hansamu… man-beautiful…I…I…" He had gone scarlet and so had Alfred.

"Thank you…" He managed, "Thank you very much…so you…you don't hate me?" Kiku shook his head.

"Alfred-san is a good person," Alfred beamed.

"THANK YOU!" His smile seemed to be contagious because Kiku looked at his joyous expression and gave a small smile of his own. This made Alfred's spirits soar sky high.

"I got you to smile! I, Alfred F Jones, got you to smile! YES!" He leapt off his chair,

"I DID IT! I DID IT! YES! I AM A HERO!" He started a strange victory dance which made Kiku actually laugh, which only provoked more weird dancing, soon the small nation was laughing spiritedly whilst Alfred jumped up and down, grinning all the while.

"What's going on here? ACHOO!" Yao entered, looking quite ill, he looked from the dancing America to the laughing Japan with surprise evident on his face.

"Kiku?"

"Yao-san!" said Kiku, smiling, "Will you watch the American joy dance with me?" But Yao just gasped,

"You're speaking English!" Kiku nodded,

"Heracles-san and Alfred-san told me how to speak English, the dance is very funny." Yao stared at Alfred who was running in a circle chanting,

"HERO, HERO, HERO!" He switched to Chinese.

"_I don't think that's a national dance, I think he's a bit mad,"_ Kiku stared at Alfred then back at Yao and then back to Alfred again, a smile on his face.

"_It's still amusing,"_ Yao sneezed loudly and Kiku looked at him in surprise,

"_Are you alright Yao-san?"_

"_I'm fine, just…cold, running after you, England's weather is horrible, even the summer is cold."_

"_I am very sorry,"_ apologised Kiku.

"_Nothing for you to be sorry about…_ACHOO_! I think I'll go and lie down…just don't let this idiot influence you too much."_

"_Alfred-san is very nice." _

"_He also has… it is an English expression…he is… a few nuts short of a fruitcake… or something like that. I'll be back soon," _Yao made his way out of the room, sneezing violently, staggering slightly. Kiku watched him go, would he be alright? Was he here to take him home? He looked back to America, who was still dancing with tremendous energy. He smiled again and drew his blankets around him. Things were looking better, he wasn't a captive anymore and…and…Alfred had called him beautiful! He blushed again and decided to get a bit more sleep.

By the time Alfred had stopped dancing he turned to see Kiku had fallen asleep. He resumed his position on the chair and watched him doze, pleased to see he had fallen asleep with a tiny smile on his beautiful face, things were looking up!


	10. Friends and Enemies

**AN: Thanks to Zelda-FF, GoddessSumizofVenice, Tori, Kawaii Bishiness, HikariRiverIshidaSage, Lightbeauty, KaoticWhim, and ringo-satou17 for all reviewing!**

**Sorry for the really slow update. My enthusiasm for Hetalia has somewhat faded due to the fact the website I watch Hetalia on has been blocked or something. If anyone could recommend another website I'd be really grateful!**

**But I never abandon a story, so here's the next chapter! Alfred, Kiku and company have taken residence in Matthew's house! Last chapter America and Japan patched up their differences and are now fairly friendly. But there's still one person lurking round who doesn't want Kiku to get too close to Alfred!**

**Also, we hear of both of this story's side pairings in this chapter and a mention of a character who'll be coming into the story later!**

**So enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Friends and Enemies**

It was only when Alfred was gently prodded awake by Kiku that he realised that he had fallen asleep as well. He sat bolt upright realising he was still in the chair by Kiku's bedside. He looked up and sat Kiku was looking out the window. He followed his gaze and saw that he had grown dark outside, yet light flooded a patch of grass that closest to the house.

"Are you alright?" he asked, stretching and yawning.

"I am fine Alfred-san," said Kiku looking out the window still. Alfred yawned again and hastily put a hand over his mouth as Kiku looked round. He really needed to remember his manners, he needed to impress Kiku! Damn it, for once all those lessons in becoming a gentleman from England were actually useful in the end…

"Are you hungry or anything?" Kiku seemed to working out what the correct answer was. However, Alfred could tell something else was troubling him too…

"I…I…There was a strange…a strange…" Kiku gestured to his ears.

"Sound? Noise?" suggested Alfred. Kiku nodded.

"A strange sound downstairs?" inquired Alfred.

"Yes, it might be your…your brother…"

"Canada?"

"No, that's not…not…your…father?" Alfred frowned but then realised what Kiku was talking about.

"England? Arthur? He's making strange noises downstairs?" Kiku nodded.

"I think so." Alfred got to his feet.

"Can…can I come as well?" asked Kiku, "I need…want…to walk…" Alfred wordlessly offered him a hand and then his other as he lifted Kiku out of bed with ease. The smaller nation was very wobbly on his feet, he was probably still very disorientated from being hit over the head, plus he'd been lying down a lot recently. He collapsed onto Alfred's chest as Alfred struggled to keep him upright. Blushing furiously, Alfred just gave a chuckle and helped Kiku over to the wall, noticing that his bandages were slipping slightly. In places, Kiku's sleek black hair was matted red with blood. Guilt squirmed inside of him as Kiku leaned heavily against the wall and inched his way towards the door. Alfred had an idea. He caught Kiku by surprise by grabbing on of his arms and crouching down, making sure Kiku was leaning on him. Kiku seemed to understand what he was doing so smiled gratefully at him. With Kiku leaning on him, Alfred opened the door and they walked out onto the spacious landing. Indeed, now Alfred could hear strange noises and as they inched along the landing they could hear voices.

"Down, I think," said Kiku. Alfred looked at the stairs.

"I'm going to carry you, is that alright?" Kiku nodded. They hurried down the stairs and Alfred didn't put Kiku down as they walked towards the noises. Kiku didn't seem to mind very much though. He was too curious as to what was going on.

"Canada, I would…leave…ACHOO!"

"Yao-san," said Kiku, he was about to speak again when suddenly Alfred picked up speed. They could hear someone whimpering.

"Matthew?" asked Alfred, turning a corner and seeing Canada and China standing in the hallway, near the entrance to what America knew was a guest room. He could hear groans coming from inside the room. Alfred put Kiku down as they approached the doorway.

"I wouldn't look in…!" warned Yao. Kiku peered round the doorway. His face suddenly went incredibly red.

"What did you see?" asked Alfred, curiously. Kiku gasped and fluttered, muttering incomprehensibly.

"I…I…do…not…know how…or want…to know how…to say…" He buried his face in Alfred's shoulder. Yao was determinately looking away from the door, so was Matthew… Ignoring more warnings, Alfred stuck his head round the door.

"HOLY…." Alfred clapped a hand over his own mouth and glanced at Kiku who was still hiding. Yao closed the door as quietly as he could. Alfred couldn't help wonder why he hadn't done that before he and Kiku had got there!

"Is…Is that how babies are made?" asked Matthew tremulously. His eyes were wide and he looked like he had been scarred for life.

"No…no…Babies are found in fields…That's what England told me…" said Alfred. The noises from the inside the room were getting even louder and Matthew invited everyone into his sitting room, just to get away from their 'father figures' next door.

"I think…think baby came from…from…bamboo…" said Kiku, "Yao said they…from bamboo plants…"

"Definitely fields," said Alfred, "But maybe it's different where you come from…"

* * *

Francis and Arthur continued their activities quite oblivious to the fact there had been anyone watching them. Meanwhile, they had all grouped in Matthew's living room where a fire was burning, making it the warmest room in the house. There were two sofas in there. Yao had disappeared upstairs, apparently to sleep off his cold, so Matthew was left on one sofa whilst Alfred and Kiku sat on, Kiku hadn't spoken since they entered the room, he seemed to have been too shocked by what he had seen. The poor nation was spending way too much time being traumatised in Alfred's opinion. Was everyone just out to get him? Well he was certain in one thing, his 'father-figures' were certainly going to get a talking to when they had sobered up and…and…stopped doing…what they were doing right now…

"I don't think Francis was even drunk…" whimpered Matthew. Alfred sighed and rolled his eyes.

"So basically he's taken advantage of Mr-No-Tolerance-Kirkland?" Matthew nodded.

"Should we stop him?" asked Kiku, looking at the brothers with wide eyes.

"No, they've been on and off like this for centuries," said Alfred, "I don't exactly know what on earth those two think of each other anymore…"Kumajiro came wandering into the room and settled on the sofa next to Matthew. Canada grabbed his furry companion for reassurance, trying not to think of what he had blatantly already witnessed.

Ten minutes passed in silence, both blonds happy to sit there and stare at the fire. Kiku looked curiously around at the huge room before breaking the silence.

"I saw Yao-san doing that once…"

"What?" asked Alfred, Kiku nodded, colouring. He sat up.

"But…but I stopped it…by walking in... accident."

"Poor you," said Alfred, however he had become curious. Francis and Arthur had been making love and war for goodness knows how long, but he didn't know a lot of Chinese history, who could Yao consider his Francis? Or his Arthur…though America couldn't imagine Yao being a drunken pervert.

"Who with?" asked Matthew, it seemed he had had the same thoughts as Alfred had. Kiku shrugged.

"I…I think he was a…a… nation too…But I don't know…who he was… He was not some…I had not seen him…" He ended up shaking his head. His English was still very shaky. He'd learnt a remarkable amount in the time he'd been captured but he still couldn't find the exact words he wanted.

"What did he look like?" asked Alfred, "Let's see if we know him?" It had become a bit of a game, guess who Yao's mystery admirer is!

"He…He had white…no…pale? No…" Kiku had gone rather red, it seemed he thinking back to that encounter.

"He had pale hair," he said, "And…and…His eyes are purple…" America and Canada stared at each other and then back at Kiku.

"And…he had…a big coat? And a… scarf? " Japan looked at them both as comprehension dawned in both their eyes.

"RUSSIA?" exclaimed Alfred. Matthew trembled where he sat.

"Yao and Ivan!" he exclaimed, "That's…That's…" Kiku looked between them confused

"I think so," he said.

"Woah, that must have been disturbing," said Alfred conversationally. Kiku just nodded.

"Wha…" They heard a sleepy moan and a head appeared from behind the sofa Matthew was sitting on. A mop of brown hair emerged over the top of the sofa, it was Greece of course, who'd been taking a nap on the floor for reasons best known to only himself. Almost immediately Alfred grabbed hold of Kiku much to Japan's sudden surprise, which he expressed in a small cry.

"Don't worry Kiku, I won't let you near him!" Alfred proclaimed, "He won't hurt you anymore!" Kiku was too polite to say that Heracles hadn't hurt him in the slightest and it was in fact Alfred who had been doing all the hurting, but he managed to wiggle out of Alfred's grip, and turned to face both of them.

"I…I do not want…anyone…to…f…fight…" he said, screwing up his concentration to get the right words out.

"No one… hurt…me," Both Heracles and Alfred stared at him.

"Well…as far as I remember…" yawned Greece, "I've never hurt you…" He sent a very pointed look at Alfred.

"And I promised to be your hero and never hurt you and make sure to protect you from everyone, like _him_!" He sent a very pointed look back at Heracles.

"You did hurt Japan though," said Matthew, but everyone ignored him.

"Do not worry Kiku," said Heracles, "They can't get rid of me just yet, you'll find I'm a little quieter than _rowdy Americans_, so if it gets too much, I'll always be here," He gave a lazy smile.

"That is…very kind of you…Heracles-sa…" Suddenly Alfred interrupted him.

"What do you mean too much! I'm going to let Kiku have the most fun he's had in years and what could be better than having fun with a hero!"

"That's very nice of you Alfred-sa…" Heracles interrupted this time.

"Hmm…what could be better…perhaps not being squeezed to death and having constant ear ache…those things do see pretty annoying to me…" Alfred got to his feet, letting of Kiku as he did so.

"You think I'm annoying?"

"Did I say that?" yawned Heracles.

"You'd find you did," said Alfred, "You're trying to make me look bad in front of Kiku!"

"You did that pretty well yourself," said Heracles in an idle tone, "You are the one who hammered his head in, starved him, and kidnapped him in the first place… Is that what you call, 'looking bad'?" He was smiling now and this only caused Alfred to get angrier! Heracles was taunting him!

"Err…Kiku…do you want to get something to eat?" Matthew hastily asked. Kiku turned to the Canadian.

"If you wouldn't mind, Matthew-san," Matthew smiled and helped him out the room, away from the angry nations. Alfred and Heracles didn't even notice, they were too intent and glaring at each other, their argument getting more and more heated. The last thing they heard before they fled was this:

"Who do you think you are! Coming out of nowhere to take _my _Kiku! I have one thing to do to you!" They heard something slap against the ground. Inside the room Heracles said.

"You want to duel me?"

"No, I want to challenge you, that's what the glove means,"

"That means a duel,"

"Whatever! Just listen to me for once! I will prove to you once and for all that Kiku belongs to me! Here's my challenge!" Kiku and Matthew were gone, not hearing any of this.

"The winner if the one to get Kiku to fall in love them, in three weeks!" There was silence for a moment.

"I accept," said Heracles, "I accept on the condition that whoever looses, is never allowed to go near Kiku, ever again."

"Agreed," The new enemies shook hands, whilst Kiku, oblivious, was trying maple syrup for the first time.


End file.
